


Muscle Memory

by sottovocexo



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Cobra Kai (Web Series) Spoilers, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28736979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sottovocexo/pseuds/sottovocexo
Summary: Robby reflects on his fight with Miguel during the aftermath of Season 2. Takes place before the start of Season 3.
Relationships: Miguel Diaz & Johnny Lawrence, Miguel Diaz & Robby Keene, Robby Keene & Daniel LaRusso, Robby Keene & Johnny Lawrence
Kudos: 9





	Muscle Memory

I didn't want to end up like him. I didn't want to be anything like him. 

Mom always taught me that my dad wasn't worth our time. He was never there for me, not even on the day I was born. But on that day, I was born on the wrong side of the tracks, because I was still born of him.

I went down the wrong path, not unlike my dad. I made the wrong friends, probably like he did. I was a husk of potential, the way he still is.

Mr. LaRusso turned everything around for me. He made me a different person. Or so I thought.

When I started studying true karate at Miyagi-Do, learning how to center myself and balance my life, I thought I was going against the grain. Undoing everything my dad had wordlessly taught me about living through the way he was losing. 

During the fight, I couldn't keep all of Mr. LaRusso's lessons in my head—not while my fists were flying and legs were kicking on instinct and muscle memory. I couldn't stay balanced. I tipped to one side, fell back to the wrong side of the tracks. 

Miguel had me pinned. He could have finished me. That's what he would have learned at Cobra Kai, anyway, while I was learning self-defense at Miyagi-Do.

But while my dad was starting to teach his kids mercy, his blood was still pumping through my veins. He was telling them one thing while I'd inherited another.

I wasn't defending myself when I finished the fight. I was shedding my skin, becoming Cobra Kai. I was the spitting image of him.

You can only reverse lessons and words, not the kind of muscle memory that's built into your DNA. 

So, I did what he would do: I left.

I didn't mean for it to happen—the fight, the fall. I didn't mean to be anything like him at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Obsessed with Cobra Kai right now! I love how the show flips the script on the original. Miguel is like Daniel if taught by Kreese, while Robby is like Johnny if taught by Mr. Miyagi. But the end of the fight reverses the script again, so while Miguel falls back on his natural, sweet path, Robby reverts back to a force he can't fight. Hope you enjoyed it!


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